The End?
by Radi Berra
Summary: You will be confused if you haven't played the game first. What happened to Chrono's mom after she ran into the gate at the end of the game? What did Chrono name his cat? It's pretty funny! And insane! Please read! COMPLETE!
1. Chrono's Mom Disappears

Disclaimer: I do not own Chrono Trigger, though if I did, I'd be a much happier person. This story takes place after Chrono's mum gets sucked into the gate at the end of the SNES game. Do not read if you have not played the game, or you will be very confused. But hey, I'm not stopping you. If you want to be confused, you're more than welcome to read this. Don't say I didn't warn you. And I'm not wasting my efforts trying to build on character descriptions. You should know what they look like. If not, I don't care. I'll only describe a few people for the benefit of those who have not quite beaten the game, but are close. Nyeh.

Chapter One- Chrono's mum disappears

"Mum!" Chrono yelled as his mother followed his cat inside the gate. "Don't follow Mr. Tinkle!"

Too late.

The gate closed.

"Oh, this is great," Marlee said exasperately. "Chrono, that gate will never open again!"

Lucca, however, started giggling.

"What's so funny?" Chrono asked, frowning.

"Mr. Tinkle..." Lucca said, still giggling. "That's hilarious..."

"What, you think my cat has a wierd name, huh?" Chrono demanded.

"Lucca, Chrono, let's think. How do we get Chrono's mom back?" Marlee inturrupted.

Lucca stopped giggling. "Hmmm... Oh yeah! Epoch!"

"That's right!" Marlee said. "WE have a time machine!"

"I'm glad you remembered," Chrono said grumpily. "Now you tell me this: What time period is she in? I, for one, do NOT want to be wandering around four different time periods looking for her. I don't like her THAT much."

"He's got a point," Marlee mused. "Let's start with the Dark Ages?"

Lucca narrowed her eyes. "Are you assuming that Schala survived the Ocean Palace incident and can help?"

The three of them remembered the Ocean Palace disaster. Queen Zeal had tried to obtain immortality and almost wiped out the entire world from it. That was also the incident in which Chrono had died.

But you knew that. If not, I told you not to read this.

Marlee hesitated. "I think so... "

Lucca sighed. "Alright. Let's go."

They headed toward the exit to the fair, and were stopped by King Guardia, Marlee's father.

"Honey, I just wanted to tell you that I'm so happy to be your father," he began.

Marlee sighed impatiently. "Um, yeah. Listen, we have to go-"

"Where?" the king inturrupted.

"I was just about to tell you!" Marlee said indignantly. "We're going to save Chrono's mom, we'll be back later-"

"You're leaving again?" the king asked. "Oh, Nadia..."

"Nadia" is Marlee's real name, obviously.

"Don't 'oh, Nadia' me, daddy," Marlee inturrupted. "We will be back shortly. Good-bye."

The three hurried off before the king could respond.

"Mr. Tinkle..." Lucca giggled again as they reached Epoch.

"YOU shut up," Chrono snapped, climbing in and starting it up.

They were sent back to 12,000 B.C. instantly.

The three approached the Commons, and approached the Elder.

His face lit up at the sight of them. "Hello!" he said brightly. "Thank you so much for destroying Lavos-"

"Yes, yes," Lucca inturrupted. "You're welcome. Seen Schala lately?"

The Elder's face fell. "Why no, I haven't... Why do you ask?"

"Well, Chrono's cat Mr. Tin-"

"My cat ran into a gate, my mum followed it, now we're looking for Schala to see if she can help find mum," Chrono inturrupted before Lucca launched into how he named his cat Mr. Tinkle.

"Well... nobody's seen her since the Ocean Palace disaster..." the Elder said.

"Do you think she's dead?" Marlee asked.

The Elder shook his head. "I don't know..."

"How about Magus?" Lucca asked. "Have you seen him around?"

The Elder frowned. "I think so... A few days ago, actually... He came out of the gate, which disappeared behind him, and headed toward the Palace of the Sun Stone."

Marlee thanked him, and the three headed toward the Palace.

Sure enough, Magus was still there.

"What's he been DOING for the last few days?" Lucca muttered as they cautiously approached Magus, who was praying to the beam of light.

"The hell if I know," Chrono muttered back.

They waited.

Two hours later...

"Er- Magus?" Lucca said tentatively, finally losing her patience.

Magus jumped up, grabbed his scythe, and swung it toward Lucca.

Chrono whipped out his sword and intersected the intended blow.

"Oh..." Magus said, putting his scythe down. "It's you.. What do you want?"

"Mr. Tinkle ran away into the gate," Lucca said loudly before Chrono could say anything.

"Thanks a lot, LUCCA," Chrono snapped.

"Who the hell is Mr. Tinkle?" Magus asked, confused.

"Chrono's cat," Lucca said smugly.

"SHUT UP ABOUT MY CAT!" Chrono yelled.

Magus snickered. "You named your cat Mr. Tinkle?"

"Oh, shut up," Chrono snapped.

"So really, why are you here?" Magus asked, still snickering.

"We want to know if you know where Schala is," Marlee said.

Magus stopped snickering. "No... I don't, actually... But she's in this time period, I'm positive."

"Do you want to help us look?" Marlee asked.

Magus shrugged. "Got nothing else to do..."

So they got back in Epoch, and started to fly around and see if they could spot Schala.

While they were flying, Magus started giggling. "Mr. Tinkle..." he said, unable to contain it.

"WOULD YA GIVE THAT A REST?" Chrono yelled.

"Honestly, Chrono," Lucca pointed out. "Who would name their cat Mr. Tinkle?"

"I NAMED MY CAT MR. TINKLE!" Chrono yelled, violently jerking the steering wheel.

So the search for Schala began.

Will they find Schala? Will Chrono ever stop yelling at Lucca? Will he ever tell us why he named his cat Mr. Tinkle? Stay tuned, and find out!


	2. The Search for Schala

Hello again! Some of this chapter may be a bit drama-ish... Um... huh. I forgot what else I was going to say... happens a lot... curse my short term memory... Well, enjoy! -

Chapter 2- The Search For Schala

Chrono parked Epoch near the water, still muttering how much he wanted to kill Lucca for harping on about his kitty.

Magus jumped out. "Hmmm... appears deserted."

Marlee looked around. "I could have SWORN I saw something..."

The island was much larger than it had looked from the air. For starters, the forest, which had seemed so small from the sky, was really quite large. As were the trees _in _the forest. Another small thing Chrono noticed was that there was something large protruding from the trees... But he couldn't tell what it was.

"What's that?" he asked, pointing at whatever it was.

Lucca squinted. "A... building, maybe?"

Magus shook his head. "Impossible... no buildings survived the Ocean Palace disaster..."

"Let's check it out, shall we?" Marlee asked cheerfully, already headed toward the forest entrance.

"Wait!" Lucca blurted. "We don't know what's in the forest! It could be a trap!"

Marlee snorted. "Uh huh. And if there was a trap, it would only prove that there's something good in the forest... or at least something secret..."

Her eyes glittered.

Chrono sighed. He knew Marlee was right...but if it was a trap, who was expecting them?

More importantly, why?

Marlee tripped over something.

Magus walked over and helped her up. "What happened?"

Marlee brushed the snow off her butt. "I dunno... That footprint, maybe."

She pointed at a small footprint that was in the snow.

"You couldn't trip on a footprint in the-" Lucca stopped. "Wait... FOOTPRINT?"

Lucca ran over and looked at it. "Oh no... this looks unpleasantly familiar..."

Chrono walked over and looked at it. "Oh... yeah, it does..."

"Reptites..." Marlee whispered.

Meanwhile...

The queen of the reptites sat in her throne, bored. It had been ten long years since she had arrived in this time period, but she couldn't remember what had happened prior to her being chosen Queen.

"Yoh Madisty," one of her guards said, bowing low. "Id appease dat thum ehps heve avived in yoh fuhrest..."

Translation: Your majesty, it appears that some apes have arrived in your forest...

This news made the queen sit up, rigid. "What?"

"Ehps... ehn yoh fuhrest..." the guard repeated.

The queen bit her lip. Apes? In her forest? No, that can't be... Apes all lived together, on a different continent... and some of them could use magic... what if... some of these "Enlightened" apes had found her palace? The strange, purple haired woman had already foundthis island...What if others like her had come to save her? If so, then her reign as queen would be over, since these apes would kill all of the remaining reptites..

"Yoh madisty?" the guard pressed.

The queen shook her head. "Um, go and bring these apes to me. Be careful, though, they might use magic... Go put on the special armor."

"Do yoh went dee ehpes ehyive?"

"Yes, I would like them alive," the queen snapped. "They are of no use to me dead. And send back a guard to tell me what these apes are like before you bring them to me. I would like to be able to know how to interrogate them before they reach me."

The guard bowed, snapped something at another guard, and they left the palace.

The queen sat back in her throne. "Well, Thor..." she murmured, rubbing her small yellow companion, "it is just us for a while..."

Thor nodded.

Back to the forest entrance...

"But this is preposterous!" Lucca said exasperately. "The reptites have been extinct for six million, nine hundred eighty eight thousand years!"

"Approximately," Marlee added.

Chrono scratched his head. "And _how_ can you do all this math in your head, Lucca?"

"That's not the point!" Lucca exploded. "How are they HERE if they are no longer in existence?"

"Well, obviously they ARE in existence if their footprints are," Chrono said, standing up. "And

I for one want to find Scha-"

"She _is_ here..." Magus inturrupted suddenly, his eyes on something near the forest's entrance.

"What?" Marlee asked.

"My sis- Schala! Schala is here!"

The other three stared, confused, as Magus ran over to the forest entrance.

'At last...' Magus thought, picking something up. 'I have found you, Schala...'

Lucca walked over to him. "What did you find?"

Magus held it up.

It was a small, deep purple pendant set on a fine silver chain.

"Schala's pendant...?" Marlee mused. "Then- she must be here..."

Chrono pointed toward the forest. "What are we waiting for? Let's go find her."

One hour later...

"These reptites are morons," Marlee muttered after they had followed the footprints in endless circles for about an hour. "Do they even know where they're going?"

Lucca plopped against a tree. "Oh, I don't know... probably not..."

"The question I want answered," Chrono said, "is how they survived the explosion after Lavos crashed the Tyrano Lair."

Magus, who hadn't said anything the whole time they'd been wandering around, finally spoke. "I never visited that time span... perhaps, after Lavos was defeated, the Lair remained unchanged, and the reptites lived?"

Lucca shook her head. "No. Nothing we did, since we defeated Lavos in 1999 A.D., changed anything that Lavos did to any time period prior to that. That has been proven, given the general state of things in this time period. If history had been changed in the prehistoric times, and Lavos had never destroyed Tyrano Lair, having never existed in that time span, since we detroyed him, the island continents would still exist, and this time period would go back to the former glory it once was in. Does that make sense?"

"Nope," Chrono said truthfully.

"Yeah, I'm going to have to go with Chrono on that one," Magus said, scratching his head.

Lucca sighed. "Nothing we did in any time period before 1999 AD has been changed by our defeating Lavos. The only time period that has been changed by Lavos' defeat is the time period after 1999 AD. How about that? Did that make sense?"

Marlee nodded. "Yes, much better. You'll have to remember that Chrono isn't very smart."

"Hey now," Chrono growled. "I'm plenty smart."

They started walking again.

"Yeah, right," Lucca said tolerantly. "If you're so smart, then why did you name your cat Mr. Tinkle?"

"I WAS TEN WHEN I GOT HIM, OKAY?" Chrono yelled.

"Why'd you name him Mr. Tinkle?" Lucca repeated, grinning.

"That wasn't his original name," Chrono snapped.

"What was his original name?" Marlee asked.

"God of Thunder," Chrono grunted.

"Why'd you change his name?" Magus asked.

"Because he kept making 'rainclouds in the corner', as my mom said," Chrono muttered.

Lucca burst out laughing, Magus chuckled, and Marlee supressed a giggle.

Chrono rounded on them. "WHY ARE YOU PICKING ON MY KITTY?"

"That's just extremely amusing..." Magus responded, trying hard to keep a straight face, but failing miserably.

Lucca stopped laughing, contented wih just a smile at this point.

Then, she noticed something. Something that wiped the smile right off her face.

"The footprints end... by the... THE TREES! THE REPTITES ARE IN THE TREES!"

Her warning came too late. Before the four of them could react, the reptites flew from the trees and knocked them out.

Two hours later...

Chrono moaned as he tried to sit up. What had happened? He was sore all over...

"Hey," he muttered, nudging Marlee.

Groggily, she sat up as well.

"What the... Where are we?" Marlee muttered.

"Hell if I know..." Chrono responded, taking into account their surroundings.

They were in a primitively built room of some sort. The walls were lined with a shiny, rainbow colored material. The ceiling was quite low. Maybe two meters high. The crudely made door was made out of bones, and two reptites were guarding it.

'This is not good...' Chrono thought. 'We gotta get outta here!'

Meanwhile...

The guard had described the apes to the Queen.

'A male ape with red, pointed hair?' she thought. 'A girl ape with yellow hair, and a girl ape with strange round objects on her eyes? A male ape with an appearance similar to that of the female ape with the purple hair that they had found earlier? What does this mean...?' These descriptions rang a bell in her mind... but she couldn't remember what it was about these apes that was striking her memory... She shook her head.

"The new apes must be here for the ape we captured earlier, which means that they can use 'magic'. Be careful, and bring them to me immediately."

She sat back in her throne, troubled. Why did the apes sound so familiar...? She couldn't figure it out...

'I must see them for myself,' she decided.

Meanwhile, back in the strange room...

"Hello, Chrono," a soft voice said from the wall behind Chrono.

He turned around. "Wha- Schala!"

Schala nodded, staring at Magus and Lucca, both still unconscious, with a sad experssion.

"How'd you get here?" Marlee asked. "How'd you survive the Ocean Palace incident?"

Schala sighed.

**FLASHBACK**

The walls were shaking around Schala, Magus, Marlee and Lucca. The Mammon Machine was emitting far too much dangerous energy... Schala knew what had to be done.

"I am going to send you back with my pendant's last remaining energy..." Schala said. "I am sorry... I know you can't forgive her, but... Please don't hate Mother, or our kingdom..."

"Schala-" Magus began.

Schala shook her head. "Good-bye... I feel certain that our paths will cross again..."

The pendant glowed, and Magus, Marlee, and Lucca disappeared.

Schala fell to her knees. "Chrono... I am so sorry..."

She felt certain that Chrono's death was her fault. It was... Wasn't it? After all, it had been her pendant, and not her mother, that had given the Mammon Machine the power it needed to draw Lavos to them... Yes, it was her fault... Everything was...

Tears slid down her face as she struggled to find a way to escape the pain.

Her pendant was just that now- a pendant. It had no more power... and even if she tried to power it up using the Mammon Machine, the resulting energy burst could kill her...

"Hello, Schala," a voice said.

Schala looked up. "What? W-Who's there?"

"She doesn't recognize us, big brother..." the voice said sadly.

"No, maybe we should speak to her, face to face," another voice said.

Two figures appeared before her.

"Masa...?" Schala whispered. "Mune?"

"See? She remembered us!" Masa said.

"How- what- where-" Schala stammered, unable to create a coherent sentence.

Masa sighed. "How did we get here, what are we doing here, and where did we come from?"

Schala nodded, cringing as the Mammon Machine shot sparks everywhere.

"We're magic, duh! But that's not important," Mune chided. "The important thing is that we have to get you outta here, ASAP."

Schala shook her head. "Everything is my fault... I listened to my mother, even though... I knew..."

"Even though you knew it would destroy all of humanity in the end, wiping out everything humans had worked so hard to build, and leaving those few survivors to fend for themselves without any food?" Mune piped up.

Schala burst into tears.

Masa glared at him. "Now that was a bit rude."

"Yeah, maybe it was..." Mune muttered.

"Let's get you outta here..." Masa said, picking up Schala.

The Mammon Machine exploded...

**End Flashback**

"I'm so surprised to see you alive..." Schala said, looking at Chrono throgh blurry eyes. "It was Gaspar's time egg... wasn't it?"

Chrono nodded. "Yes."

Magus stirred. "What..."

He sat up, and saw Schala sitting against the wall.

"Schala!" he exclaimed, running over to her, his head scraping the low ceiling.

"Hello, Janus," Schala said, smiling.

"Jan-"

Magus stopped.

"Yes, Prophet, I figured it out..." Schala said.

"But... how?" Magus stammered.

"Your cat was the first hint," Schala said. "Alfador only followed Janus around... and when you showed up, he followed you around, too."

"Alfador..." Magus whispered. "My... cat..."

"Secondly," Schala continued, "you kept referring to a 'black wind' when addressing Queen Zeal. Only Janus and I ever mentioned a 'black wind'."

Before Magus could respond, the guards opened the door.

"Our queen wishes to see you..." the only guard with an understandable voice said, holding a spear.

"What for?" Chrono demanded, reaching for his sword... but it wasn't there.

"Looking for your weapons, Ape?" the guard sneered.

"You-" Chrono began.

Lucca cast a Fire spell at the guard.

The guard merely laughed as the fire bounced harmlessly off his rainbow colored armor.

"Nice try, Ape," the guard said. "Now the queen will really enjoy meeting you..."

He escorted them to the queen's room.

Chrono looked at the queen...

And gasped.

To be continued...

Heehee! Yay! I have finally finished chapter two! I hope more people review this one, or I won't write chapter three... I'm not writing this for my health, y'know... In fact, it's bad for my knees, since I don't have a computer desk, and my monitor's propped up on a box, so I have to kneel to do anything with my computer.

But that's unimportant.

Please review, again! And read chapter three when I get it up!

Hmm, maybe I should go buy a computer desk... my legs fell asleep...

O.o


	3. The Queen of the Reptites

Disclaimer: No. I do not own Chrono Trigger. If I did, I'd be a happy person. Thank you for reviewing. Apparently, people like what I named Chrono's cat. It's humourous, I guess.

Chrono: But I don't think it's funny.

Lady Vella: Come now, I CONTROL you! You'd better not complain, or I'll kill you off right here.

Chrono: Shutting up...

Lady Vella: Excellent. On to chapter 3, shall we?

.O.

Chapter 3- The Queen of the Reptites.

The queen stood up.

Chrono mouthed wordlessly as he gaped up at the woman.

She was not a reptite.

She was human.

She had green hair, which was extremely matted. Her face was thin and pale, probably from lack of sunlight and proper nutrition. She appeared at least ten pounds underweight. Her clothing was strange, even for a Reptite. She was wearing a long purple robe that clashed horribly with her hair. It appeared to be made out of some kind of animal with thick, leathery skin, mixed with soft cloth that didn't come from this time period.

In fact, Chrono knew exactly where it had come from.

"Mom?" he whispered.

Magus looked at Chrno in alarm. "That's your MOTHER?"

The queen walked slowly toward Chrono. "So... what was that you called me? Ape?"

Chrono frowned. "What? Mom, what happened?"

"How'd the Reptites survive?" Lucca asked.

There was a meowing sound from the throne.

"Mr. Tinkle!" Chrono exclaimed.

Magus snorted again.

"Y'know-" Chrono began holtly before the queen inturrupted.

"I asked you a question, ape."

"Mom, what's wrong with you?" Chrono asked. "How'd you get here? How'd the Reptites survive that long?"

The queen nodded at her guards.

Chrono was yanked roughly to a side room, where the queen followed.

"Now. I want you to answer me a few questions, ape," she said, sitting on a cushion on a chair. "And none of this 'mom, don't you recognize me' nonsense."

Chrono looked at the ground, glanced at the two reptites still holding his arms, and sighed reluctantly. "Okay..."

"Where did you come from, and how did you get here?" the queen demanded, rubbing Thor, who purred contentedly.

Chrono sighed. "I came from... the future, in a time machine that flies."

The queen clicked her tounge disapprovingly. "Don't act as though I were stupid, ape. The reptites didn't survive the Ice Age by being incompetent fools, you know."

"I'm telling you the truth!" Chrono yelled.

The queen nodded at her guards again.

One of them took out something that looked vaugely like a gun, and shot it at Chrono.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHH!" Chrono yelled, as electricity shot through his body at an unbearably painful rate.

The queen nodded again, and it stopped.

"Ugh..." Chrono moaned.

"Talk, ape, and you may live," the queen said, almost bored. "Lie to me, and you will, undoubtedly, die."

Meanwhile...

Marlee looked up as screaming reached her ears.

"Chrono..." she whispered.

Lucca glanced back at the reptites guarding all possible exits. "There's no way out..."

"That was Chrono's mother?" Magus asked.

Lucca nodded. "But I don't understand... how'd they survive? And why is Chrono's mother working for them?"

"She's their queen," Schala said. "She doesn't work for them, they work for her."

"We gotta get our weapons back..." Marlee muttered, glancing up at the throne, where their weapons and equiptment were lying.

"I have a plan," Lucca said suddenly. "Schala, do you have ANY magic left?"

"Yes," Schala said. "I can create a temporary magic-proof force field."

"Excellent," Lucca said. "Listen carefully. This can go really badly on us really quickly..."

Back in the torture chamber...

"Where did you get your magic powers?" the queen asked.

She had finally accepted Chrono's answer to her first two questions, which was "we came from the last village of the humans, and we got here... on a ship."

"Um..." Chrono thought fast. Surely the queen wouldn't buy 'Well, we got the magic from a creature named Spekkio, who lives in a small room at the End of Time.'...

The queen tapped her fingers impatiently. "Well? Need more time to think up a plausable lie?"

"It's not a lie, you just won't believe me," Chrono muttered.

The queen rubbed her eyes. "I have things to do, Ape..."

"The Magic Kingdom," Chrono said. "The people there gave it to us..."

Satisfied, the queen asked a final question. "Why are you here?"

"We came... to save Schala," Chrono mumbled. "The first human you captured..."

"I see."

The queen stood up. "Well, if that's all... kill him. We don't want any trouble."

'Damn,' Chrono thought. 'This isn't going in a good direction...'

"Um..." Chrono said suddenly, "I have a question for you, your majesty."

The Queen turned around. "What?"

Chrono took a deep breath."How'd the reptites survive the Ice Ages?"

"Well, since you're dead anyway..." the queen mused. "Why not?"

Back in the throne room...

"Hurry," Lucca muttered desperately, building the fireball in her hands.

The fire grew to just the right size.

"Good..." Lucca muttered. "Magus, c'mon, hurry... Schala, get ready..."

"What are you doing?" a reptite asked suddenly.

"Uh, building a fire?" Marlee suggested. "Because we're... cold?"

"Oh, okay," the guard said.

Magus created a decent-sized chunk of ice in his hand.

Lucca's plan was simple. If she remembered science class well enough, which she did, of course, if you threw a certain amount of water on a large enough and hot enough fire, it would cause a large amount of steam to fill the room. (A/N- I dunno if this really works, I assume it does, though...) Schala would then create the shield to prevent the four of them from being blinded by the steam, they'd grab their weapons, rescue Chrono, and haul butt off the island.

"NOW, SCHALA!" Lucca yelled, throwing the ice into the fire.

Schala threw a shield around them, and they ran to the throne and grabbed their weapons, while the steam blinded the reptites, causing them to run into each other in their haste to keep the "apes" from escaping.

When the steam cleared, the reptites were facing a crossbow held by an angry princess, a gun held by an angry genius, a sword (that belonged to Chrono, actually) held by an angry sorceress, and a sythe held by an angry wizard.

The reptites screamed like sissies, and ran around in circles.

"Let's go!" Lucca yelled over the screaming.

BAM!

The door to the torture chamber burst open not five seconds after the queen had finished explaining how the reptites had survived.

"C'mon, Chrono!" Lucca yelled. "Let's blow this popsicle stand!"

"What?" Schala asked, confused.

"It's an expression my mom uses..." Lucca said hastily. "Point is, we gotta get off this godforsaken island, pronto!"

"How did you-" the queen stammered.

"Your guards suck, that's what," Marlee said. "Let's go!"

Schala thrust Chrono's sword at him, and they took off.

"Did you learn anything?" Lucca yelled as they ran through the forest.

"Later!" Chrono panted.

Magus came to an abrupt stop.

"What?" Chrono asked.

Magus held up a hand. "Listen..."

The wind blew softly through the trees.

Then, they heard it. A soft buzzing sound... from underneath them.

"RUN!" Magus yelled, diving into the bushes near a tree.

The others followed suit.

A large number of reptites swarmed up from under the ground, right where the five had been standing seconds before.

"Where apes?" one reptite hissed.

"Could not get far. Search," another commanded.

Magus slipped behind a tree, and counted the reptites. 'We're hopelessly outnumbered...' he thought. 'More than ten to one...'

He reached into the inside of his robes. 'Excellent, one left...'

Marlee spotted him. She held up her crossbow.

Magus shook his head, and held something up.

Marlee nodded, and prepared to run.

Magus peeked around the tree, and threw the smoke bomb.

The reptites were once again taken by surprise. By the time the smoke cleared, Marlee, Magus, Schala, Lucca, and Chrono were out of the forest and in Epoch.

Flying away.

Chrono slumped against the window. He was still weak from his torure, so Lucca had taken the controls. "I can't believe it..." he moaned.

Marlee looked over at him, and placed her hand on his hand. "It's not your fault..."

"Nope," Lucca said, steering toward the village, and landing. "It was Mr. Tinkle's fault."

"I don't have the energy left to argue with you..." Chrono said reluctantly.

All of them got out.

"So?" Lucca asked. "What'd you learn from the queen?"

Chrono sat down. "It's... I learned how they survived the Ice Ages."

Marlee sat down, too. "Go on."

"Well," Chrono said, heaving a sigh, "we forgot that there were still reptites in the Forest Maze, which was untouched by Lavos."

"Oh my God," Lucca whispered. "They lived the same way humans did, right?"

Chrono nodded. "They learned to hunt, they found the best places for food, and they figured out how to make fire. That's how they survived for... all those years. And my guess is that my mom was sent back ten years before the gate was supposed to, the remaining reptites found her, she was intelligent enough to get them to listen to her, and they made her queen."

Silence.

"So... we have to go and wipe out the reptites, right?" Marlee asked.

"That may not prove to be a wise move," Schala spoke up. "For all we know, your mother was saved by the reptites. Killing the reptites might kill your mother."

"Okay..." Marlee said. "I have an idea. Kill all but a small group of male reptites. Then they can't reproduce!"

Lucca shook her head and crossed her arms. "For all we know, male reptites are the reproducers. Plus, they wouldn't live for very long."

There was more silence.

"Well," Magus said finally, "it's been fun, but I have to go now. Good luck rescuing your mother, Chrono."

Schala nodded. "Yes. Good luck."

The two left.

Lucca stood up and brushed snow off her pants. "Well, let's head to the prehistoric age. Maybe we'll think of some way to do it... Plus, we could get Ayla to help, I'm sure..."

They headed back to Epoch.

.O.

Did you enjoy? I hope so. Sorry it took so long to update, but I've been busy. Again, thank you's go out to the few people who reviewed, namely NovMists, bluedranzer77, and VampireHunterSephiroth200. Sorry if you noticed a complete lack of detail in this chapter, but I'm not a good describer, and I've been feeling a bit off lately. I'll write chapter 4 as soon as I'm feeling better.


	4. Through the maze

Hey, everyone! Sorry it took so long for me to update, I came down with some kind of stomach something, and I've just started feeling better. Here's for my reviewers:

**NovMists**: Wow, thanks! I'm glad you liked it! I was playing the game a day or so before writing last chapter, and I thought "Hmm... I'll make Chrono's mom the Queen of the Reptites!" And I have no idea why... I hope you like this chapter, too!

**Bluedranzer77**: Yep! Mr. Tinkles is what I would have named my cat if my brother didn't name him first... And you're welcome! I liked your fic, too!

**NovaIce**: Yeah, the idea, again, just randomly appeared in my mind. No clue why. Thanks for reading!

**Eddo**: Thanks for reading! I'm glad you're interested in reading more!

And now, a few words from the crew.

Lucca: Lady Vella's an idiot, and I am SO glad that she doesn't own us, or anything related to us.

Lady Vella: I'M NOT AN IDIOT!

Lucca: Sure you are. Why else would you write this stuff?

Marlee: She's _obviously _bored.

Chrono: My mommy's EVIL! She tried to KILL me!

Marlee: Well, we'll figure out what's wrong with her in the next couple of chapters.

Magus: Unless Lady Vella gets sidetracked again. Which I bet you twenty gold she will.

Marlee: I'm not taking you up on that offer, since I know she will.

Lady Vella: Shut up! I hate you all!

Chrono: See? Everyone hates me:Runs off, crying:

Lucca: Oh, look what you've done now, Lady Vella. You've made Chrono cry!

Lady Vella: It wasn't my fault! I was making a point!

Marlee: Please enjoy... no flames, please! Or, if you do, don't make Chrono cry anymore. He's really quite pathetic when he cries.

**Chapter Four: Into the Maze.**

The three friends reached the prehistoric time period, and started walking toward the Chief's hut. Chrono was still upset, Marlee was having a hard time trying to comfort him, and his sniffling was driving Lucca nuts.

"Oh for the love of-" She spun around. "Marlee, just kiss him. Maybe he'll shut up."

There was an awkward pause.

"You, er, want me to _what _now?" Marlee asked nervously.

"Kiss him. Smooch. French. ANYTHING to make him stop sniffing," Lucca said.

"WHAT?" Chrono yelled. "How DARE you suggest that she do anything of the sort!"

Marlee laughed weakly. "Well, erm, guess he's done sniffing. Heh." Then, to herself: 'Oh, poo. I was hoping I could... NO! STOP! Do NOT think that way, Marlee! He's a FRIEND, and nothing more!'

Lucca rolled her eyes, and they reached the hut.

Lucca poked her head into the hut and yelled "Oy! KINO? AYLA? You there?"

Two people came out of the hut next door.

"Lucca, Chrono, Marlee!" the woman said brightly. "You come to see Ayla!"

She grabbed Chrono, and gave him a rib-crushing hug.

"O...w... ri...bs... cr...ush...ed... air... supply... in...suf...fic...ien...t..." Chrono gasped.

Ayla seemed to realize that Chrono couldn't breathe, so she dropped him.

"Hi, Ayla, Kino," Marlee said, nodding at the two.

"What you do here?" Ayla asked, ushering them into the hut belonging to Kino and herself.

She plopped on the ground eagerly.

Marlee dropped Chrono on the ground near Ayla. "Well, er, it's a long story, really..."

Ayla looked at her. "What long story? Ayla want hear."

Marlee nudged Chrono in his ribs and he groaned. "Tell her, Chrono."

Chrono rubbed his ribs, took a deep breath, and proceeded to tell Ayla what had happened to them on the island back, or forward, he'd forgotten that time travel confused him, in the Dark Ages. Ayla listened carefully, and when he finished, she jmped up.

"Must kill Reptites. Then, go to Chrono's time and stop Chrono's mom from going in gate. Then, everyone happy!"

Lucca snapped her fingers. "Ayla, you're a genius!"

Ayla gave Lucca a strange look. "Ayla is what? You not make sense."

Lucca jumped up as well. "Don't you see? We have to kill the Reptites here, just because I'm bored, the author's bored, and she wants to fill up this chapter, then we have to alter Epoch enough to allow us to go to ANY point of time that we WANT! And, to do that, it means we have to go to Melchior's lab in the future, and do an analysis using his calculations! Then-"

"Melchior?" Marlee inturrupted. "Don't you mean Belthasar?"

Lucca frowned. "Oh yeah. I mix the two up. Anyway, after making modifications in his time period on Epoch, we can go to the point in time where Chrono's mom goes into the gate, and stop her from doing it so none of this ever happened! THANK YOU, Ayla!"

Ayla looked at Marlee. "Ayla have no idea what Lucca says."

Chrono shook his head. "Chrono has no idea what Lucca says, either."

"Well, let's go destroy the Reptites. But this will require impeccable timing. If we take too long, Chrono's mom could die."

"Gee, thanks," Chrono muttered. "You're so considerate. Let's not EVER say that again whilst I am present, shall we?"

Lucca shrugged. "Okay."

"Ayla and friends, go to Reptites' place! Kino come, too!"

"Okay, Ayla," Kino said.

And so they embarked on a little quest to the Reptites' lair. It took the better part of their afternoon, and while they were walking, Ayla and Kino discussed what was happening to the Ioka and Laruba villages since Azala's defeat.

"Cold, white stuff fall from sky," Ayla said. "hunting hard, no animals stay where it cold. No more food growing from ground. Only food left come from Hunting Range. Frogs smart, build homes. And yummy red things on trees. All left. No more trees and frogs, no more Ioka and Laruba, maybe. And we no know how keep warm."

"Have you made fire yet?" Lucca asked.

Kino and Ayla gave her blank stares.

"Lucca dummie!" Ayla said in exasperation after a minute. "Yes, we make fire! How else cook food?" She threw up her hands.

"You can use the fire to keep warm," Lucca said, frowning.

Ayla rolled her eyes. "Ioka and Laruba know! We out furs, no more keep warm when sleep! Warm animals gone! All Ioka and Laruba have one fur each! It get colder, more Ioka and Laruba want warm! But not enough furs for warm! Fire only warm Ioka and Laruba in day!"

Kino nodded vigorously. "And Lavos still alive! Kino thought Chrono kill Lavos?"

"It's hard to explain..." Lucca muttered, still disgruntled at being called a dummie by Ayla, of all people. "But Lavos won't bother you. We promise."

"We at maze!" Ayla declared.

They stared at the uninviting entrance.

"Well, let's go," Chrono muttered. "And remind me why we're doing this again?"

"Well, the first reason is that the author is trying to pass the time, she's bored, and she needed a new chapter," Lucca said. "Second, the Reptites are hunting all of the food, so the Laruba and Ioka villagers are starving and freezing because there're no more animals with fur and meat, only frogs, and you could hardly call that enough to sustain two entire villages."

"Alright, let's get this over with," Chrono muttered, walking in.

"Yay! Ayla get to kill Reptites!" Ayla said happily, following him quickly.

"She's scaring me," Marlee muttered to Kino.

Kino nodded. "She scare all Ioka. And Laruba."

Chrono stopped, turned around, and demanded grumpily, "What the hell is taking so long?"

"Chrono, look out!" Marlee shrieked, pointing at something behind him.

He whipped out his sword just in time, and decapitated the offender.

"Oh," Ayla said sadly. "Chrono kill Kilwala. Good food. Good furs."

Chrono sheathed Rainbow, his sword. "Well, what do we do with it?"

So they trudged back to the village, dumped the beheaded Kilwala at the traders' hut, and went back to the maze. By this time, night had fallen, and it was getting hard to pay attention to what was around them. The only light they had was from Lucca, who had lit the tip of a stick on fire, but it wasn't a very sufficient amount of light.

And the temperature was dropping fast.

"Um, m-m-maybe we sh-sh-should find a w-w-warm place t-t-to stay f-f-for the n-n-night," Marlee said, shivering violently.

Ayla looked back at the shivering girl. "Okay. Cave up here. Off path. Lucca make fire, we eat red stuff from trees."

So they walked off the path and into a low cave that was fortunately large enough for the five of them. Lucca lit a fire, and Ayla passed out some red fruit. "Eat," she said.

They ate the fruit, which was pleasantly sweet and juicy, and went to sleep.

**.0.**

They were awoken the next morning by a high pitched shriek.

An Marlee wasn't in the cave.

"Marlee?" Chrono yelled, bolting toward the cave entrance. "MARLEE!"

He saw unmistakable footprints leading from the cave, and he realized what had happened.

The Reptites had taken Marlee.

To be continued...

Well, I hope you enjoyed that somewhat short chapter. I would have written more, but my knees hurt, since I have no desk still, and I have to kneel on the ground to see my computer, which is propped on a box. Quite uncomfortable, really. But oh well. Please tell me if I did an okay job on Ayla's speech, since I have a difficult time writing without linking verbs and the like.

Please review!

Chrono: Yeah, review or I'll cry again.

Marlee: That's no reason not to review. How about this: if you DON'T review, then Chrono WON'T cry again.

Chrono: You people are horrible.

Lady Vella: Oh, shut up, you big baby.

Stay tuned for chapter five, which will (hopefully) be updated soon.


	5. Let's All Blame Chrono

Alright, I'm updating again!

Readers: About damn time!

Sorry, sorry... I started summer school this week. XP No fun at all...

Alright, reviewers!

**The Jellybean Man:** Oh, I'm glad you're okay with it. Sure, I'll make Chrono cry... (Evil grin...)

**Dragondolphin1990:** Mine did that, too. But my dad finally fixed it after, like, two months. I hope yours starts working again soon! 00

**NovMists:** Oh that's good... I was afraid I'd screwed Ayla's speech up BIG time. Apparently, I'm not getting a desk until late July/early August... TT I liked that line, too. It was fun to write! -

**Eddo:** Yes, you helped a bit! The pillow makes it easier on my knees. Not great, but I can last at least fifteen minutes longer now. I don't lay on my stomach because I have back problems... I have LOTS of problems, for that matter. '

Lady Vella: Okay, time to go ahead with chapter... what chapter are we on now?

Marlee: I believe it is five.

Lucca: You were kidnapped, Marlee, go away.

Marlee: Oh, fine. BE that way...

Chrono: -sniff- You're a horrible person, Lady Vella... you told The Jellybean Man that you'd make me cry...

Lady Vella: THEN CRY!

Chrono: -bursts into tears and runs off- YOU ALL SUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!

Lady Vella: Mwehehe... that's SO much fun... Again, I do not own Chrono Trigger, though if I did, the world would be happier. For me, at least. Enjoy!

**Chapter Five: Let's All Blame Chrono...**

"MARLEE!" Chrono yelled.

Lucca grabbed his arm, and yanked him inside the cave. "Shut up, you moron, do you want the rest of them to show up and kill us all from a painful death of being beaten to death with pointy sticks?"

Ayla nodded. "That better way to die than getting Kilwala stuck in throat."

Chrono shuddered. "So, what do you suppose we do, Lucca?"

Lucca thought for a moment. "Well, I assume that they're going to try and eat her."

"Wow, what a fun way to die," Chrono said sarcastically.

"And," Lucca continued as though Chrono hadn't spoken at all, "they're going to be taking her to the reptite hideout, obviously. So let's continue onward toward it!" She struck a Superman-ish pose.

Kino, Ayla, and Chrono stared at her.

"I seriously doubt your leading capabilities," Chrono said after a second. "Let's just hurry."

The four reached the reptites' cave, crouched behind some nearby bushes, and surveyed the area. Six large, overweight reptites were guarding the entrance.

Chrono gulped. "I don't much favor the look of those sticks...They're awfully sharp, aren't they?"

Lucca rolled her eyes. "Some hero you are, Chrono."

"I try."

Ayla looked at the reptites. "Reptites look weak. Ayla kill easy."

She started to get up, but Lucca grabbed her arm. "Nuh-uh. Stay here. I bet our magic could take them out from here."

"Ayla no have mag-ick," Ayla said grumpily. "Lucca and Chrono only make fire and bright light. No Ayla or Kino."

"Well, it would be best not to call attention to ourselves," Lucca said. "If we jumped in there, guns blazing-"

Suddenly, a large, heavy object hit her in the back of the head. She slumped, unconscious. Before the other three could move, they, too, were knocked out from the reptites' large, blunt weapons.

Slowly, eventually, Chrono opened his eyes. It was dark... was it night already? How long had he been out? He looked down...

"AAAAAAHHHHH!"

He and his other companions, including Marlee, were tied together very tightly, dangling off the edge of a very steep cliff, while the rope tying them together was tied to a very thin tree.

They were very dead.

"Wha's up?" Lucca moaned groggily. "Mah hea' huts..."

She looked down, and woke up, very quickly. Her reaction was almost exactly what Chrono's had been, except for the fact that she woke the other three up in the process, and her scream was much more shrill.

"Oh, joy..." Marlee muttered. "How fun... Oh, hello, everyone. You came to save me?"

"That was the general plan, yes," Lucca moaned.

"But you failed," Marlee commented.

"Obviously."

Ayla, who was tied back to back with Chrono, to the left of Marlee, and at a painful angle with Lucca, merely stared at the ground for a moment, then said "This Chrono's fault."

"That's what I've been _trying_ to tell him from the very beginning," Lucca groaned as she tried to get Ayla's elbow out of her spine.

"Well, sorry everyone. I always hoped I'd live to a ripe old age and become Supreme Dictator of Guardia or something," Chrono said. "I guess fate was laughing bitterly at us since the beginning of this fiasco. And by 'beginning', I'm referring to the day Marlee was sucked into the timegate at the fair. Wait... that makes this all _Lucca's _fault for making that damned Telepod in the _first _place!"

"Oh, right, that makes perfect sense," Lucca spat, aiming to kick his shin, but kicking Kino instead. "Oh, sorry, Kino."

"Ow," Kino moaned.

"Anyway, Chrono, we saved the world, didn't we? So why are you complaining!" Lucca demanded.

"I'm complaining because we were going to be dead by 1999 AD, anyway," Chrono snapped back. "So why'd we even agree to this kamikaze mission in the first place? 'We can save the future' you said. 'It'll be hard but worth it' you said. Tell me. IS THIS WORTH IT? Let me answer for you. No, this is not. I don't want to end up dead more than sixty-five million years before I was even born, got it?"

Before Lucca could respond, Marlee inturrupted. "Well, I say we should analyze the situation and see if we can think up a way to get free!"

"Okay," Chrono said. "Here we are, dangling five hundred feet above a ground littered with very sharp rocks. And soon, the rope supporting us will snap, sending us hurtling the five hundred feet to the rocky ground, and die."

"Not necessarily," Lucca said. "There's _definitely_ an insignificant yet non-zero chance that we'll merely break all our bones in the fall."

"Gee, thanks," Chrono muttered.

"Of course, we'd die over the course of several days while in hellish agony instead," Lucca continued.

"I'd greatly appreciate it if you'd shut up," Chrono said.

"_Tis now the very witching time of night,  
When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out  
Contagion to this world: now could I drink hot blood,  
And do such bitter business as the day  
Would quake to look on_-" Lucca began solemnly.

"NO, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, STOP!" Chrono yelled.

"Are Chrono and Lucca done yelling yet?" Ayla asked.

"Yes, I believe so," Marlee said.

"Good. Ayla have knife. Ayla cut bottom part of rope, and all hold on. Then all climb up rope to tree!" Ayla said.

"I always wanted to die young..." Chrono mused. "Why not?"

So Ayla elbowed Lucca painfully to get the knife out of her waistband, and cut Marlee's arm by accident while getting the knife out.

It was a very tense couple of minutes.

Finally-

"Hold onto rope," Ayla commanded.

All did so, and the rope lurched as she cut the final thread.

"Rope weak," Kino said, already climbing quickly to the tree and pulling Chrono, Ayla, and Marlee up. "Hurry, Lucca!"

"Oh..." Lucca whimpered. "Maybe now's a bad time... I failed P.E. class."

"How the hell'd you manage that?" Chrono demanded.

"I was really bad at sports and fitness..." Lucca moaned.

The rope snapped, and Lucca fell...

(A/N- I could leave it there... nah, I'll keep writing to avoid flames. -)

"Marlee, you're the white magic user!" Chorno yelled. "Use protect or something!"

Marlee waved her hands frantically, but only succeeded in making Lucca fall quicker.

"Crap, that was Haste..." Marlee moaned. "PROTECT, DAMMIT!"

A large bubble formed under Lucca mere feet before hitting the ground.

"OH _GOD _THAT HURT!" rang through the area.

Five minutes later, Marlee found herself being throttled by a dirty, tired, and apparently upset Lucca.

"I'll-show-you-PROTECT!" Lucca yelled, as Marlee's head shook violently from side to side. "YOU NEARLY KILLED ME, YOU TWIT!"

"So...rry..." Marlee choked.

Lucca had to take an alternate route back to the top of the cliff... fortunately, her Haste was still working, so it made it easier.

And now, Marlee was suffering her wrath as Chrono, Ayla, and Kino watched helplessly.

After two minutes of throttling, Lucca declared herself satisfied, and they headed back to the reptites' lair. This time, all of them went in like the U.S. went into the Gulf War... guns, swords, crossbows, and fists blazing.

The reptites were soon all gone. Every last one of them.

Lucca, still disgruntled, led the group back through the maze, and back to Epoch, where they said good-bye to Ayla and Kino, and headed toward their next destination.

The future. The only time period that would be severely affected by Lavos' demise.

**To be continued...**

Well, that was fun.

The little thing Lucca did (the wierd speech) was one of Shakespeare's _Hamlet_ soliloquies. I thought it be funny to add it in.

Next chapter will be fun for me... I get to be REALLY creative! Oh, yes, I can't remember the name of the dome that Belthasar lived in in the game...you know, where you get Epoch? If you can tell me, I'll dedicate the next chapter to you! And that'd be pretty cool, I think. And I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I thought it was a bit short, myself... so I apologize for that.

Review, please!


	6. Back to the Future

Hooray, I'm updating! Again, I'm sorry it took so darn long... I've been busy.

Okay, I lied. I was lazy. Meh.

Thanks again to my lovely reviewers!

**NovMists: **Thank you! I like Lucca, too... she always makes me laugh in the game.

**Dragondolphin1990: **Wow... it finally decided to work? That's awesome! I'm glad it did work!

**Bluedranzer77: **I'm glad your computer is working now... Don't worry, you'll see a LOT of Mr. Tinkles in the chapter after this one, I promise. :D

**Lonerboi: **A new reader! Yay, I really like it when people think I have humor. Even if most people think it's weird humor... O-o I'm glad you like it, and I hope you'll read more!

A special thanks to **NovMists** and **dragondolphin1990 **for responding to the name of Belthasar's dome... I couldn't tell who replied first, considering the time varies for the delay after each response is sent in, and I got the e-mails at the same time...If that makes sense... So this chapter is dedicated to them! Thanks!

Also, this chapter and the next chapter are quite possibly the last chapters... sorry! O.O' If I can think of other things to say after these chapters, I'll write them... Until then, enjoy this next chapter!

_Disclaimer: Ladyvella42 does not own Chrono Trigger or anything associated with it... Sadly.. She also doesn't own the movie after which this chapter is titled. _

**Chapter 6: Back to the Future**

Chrono set the commands for 2300 A.D., and sat back in the pilot's chair. It would take a few minutes for the ship to maneuver through approximately sixty-four million, nine hundred ninety-seven thousand, seven hundred years of time streams.

Lucca was surprisingly quiet. Marlee gave Chrono a look as Lucca's lip quivered slightly. Chrono looked back at her.

"Lucca? You okay? Flashy hippie swirls in this time tunnel making you sick?"

Lucca looked up, and gawked at Chrono as if she'd never seen anything like him before. "Huh?"

Marlee gave Chrono a meaningful look. Chrono nodded.

"Um, Lucca... are you... worried, by any chance?" Chrono said hesitantly.

Lucca ran her fingers through the ends of her short, purpleish hair. "No..."

"Yes you are," Marlee said, studying Lucca. "You're worried that Robo isn't going to be there."

Lucca sighed. "Okay... yes, I am."

"Don't worry..." Marlee said firmly. "He will be."

The light on Epoch's control console flashed, signaling the approach of the end of the tunnel.

"Okay... Here we go!" Chrono said.

FLASH!

The trio didn't have a good view of everything from the air, so Chrono circled around and spotted the Keeper's Dome, and landed Epoch in front of it.

The trio got out, and gaped at the entirely different future from the one they had last seen.

There was vegetation, for one. Trees, grass, and flowers covered the once barren wasteland. People had built towns across the peninsula where Keeper's Dome was. Death Peak was apparently a vacation spot, because many people, adults and children alike, were skiing down it. Keeper's Dome itself was a tall and sturdy building. Strange contraptions were sitting in front of it. Lucca approached one of these contraptions. It was about as long as one and a half full-grown men. It had four wheels attached to a strange form of metal frame. It was boxlike, with windows, and, peering inside, Lucca could make out a steering device, set in front of smooth looking seats.

"What a strange thing," Lucca said, frowning. "And there are so many of them... I wonder if Belthazar built them?"

"Hey! Weirdo! Get away from my car!" a man yelled, shoving her away from the machine.

"Car?" Lucca looked at him, confused. "Is that what that is?"

"Don't play dumb, nerd," the man snapped. "Everyone has a car... it's been that way since before you were born. Now get lost."

She watched as he got into the "car" and zoomed off.

"Yeah, we were SO nice to kill Lavos for these people," Chrono snapped, pulling Lucca up. "Do we not even get a 'thank you for saving our sorry butts from Lavos' from anyone?"

Lucca bit her lip. These new machines... "cars"... were fascinating. They had saved science from Lavos, but at the expense of kind people... She had to discover what had happened. Where were all the robots?

Where was Robo?

"C'mon..." she muttered, storming to the entrance of the Keeper's Dome...

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?"

It was a guard, blocking the entrance to the dome.

"I'm going in to see Belthasar," Lucca said through gritted teeth.

The guard burst out laughing. "Riiight, and next you'll be saying that the humanoid robots are yours."

"That may be because one might be mine," Lucca said through gritted teeth.

Several people burst out laughing.

"Yeah, and where'd you get those clothes?" a passer-by teased. "Did you come from a costume party or something?"

More uproarious laughing.

Lucca's hands were now balled into fists, and her hand itched to pull out her gun.

The guard noticed this, and pulled out his own. "Don't touch the weapon... hey, is that a sword, young man? Those have been outlawed for two hundred years... That settles it. Whoever you are, you're under arrest for attempting to gain entrance into a museum with potentially dangerous weapons..."

"The hell we are!" Lucca yelled, throwing Fire everywhere.

"Oh, clever, Lucca!" Chrono yelled as they took off toward Epoch again, with guards attempting to put the fires out and chase them at the same time.

"LESS TALKING!" Lucca yelled.

They flew into Epoch, slammed several buttons, and lifted off frantically.

"Dammit! They're getting away!" the main guard yelled. "They won't get far... Contact Trann Dome. Tell them to arm the lasers..."

Lucca ran her fingers though her hair again. "I don't believe it... we save the damn future and all we get is nearly shot..."

Marlee glanced at the ground. "Uhh... Chrono? Start steering."

"Why-" Chrono began.

TSEEW!

A laser shot out of a guard's gun. It struck Epoch's left wing, jerking the control Chrono had on Epoch.

"Dammit," Chrono hissed. "Alright... hold on, we're going... where do we go? We don't know how many domes and cities there are here..."

Death Peak loomed ahead, and the three could see a large group of happy children shooting down the sides of it.

"Find a good spot to land," Lucca said firmly. "We're going to ditch Epoch. I'll leave a Protect around it, so the guards won't destroy it... Then we have to find someplace to hide until we can figure out what to do."

Chrono decided that the summit wouldn't work, so he settled on a small, secluded platform next to a large "DANGER: PRONE TO AVALANCHES. PLEASE BE QUIET." sign.

"Avalanche?" Marlee said blankly. "What's an avalanche?"

Lucca shrugged, and clambered out of Epoch. "Must be dangerous. I dunno why they'd tell us to be quiet. But... I think we should be quiet. Just in case."

The trio walked quietly toward a small, wooden building made out of what appeared to be limbless trees. Large groups of laughing girls wearing little more than some of the shortest skirts they'd ever seen and shirts with thin straps as sleeves walked out of the building, and the trio quickly hid behind a conveniently placed tree.

"Aren't they freezing to death?" Chrono muttered.

"I would be," Lucca muttered. "Then again, you wouldn't catch me _dead_ in one of those skirts... And what is on their faces... is that _war-paint_?"

"I hope not. And those boots are absolutely _dreadful_," Marlee commented disapprovingly, eying the fur-lined boots the girls were wearing. "Fur was _so _the eighth century..."

Both Chrono and Lucca stared at her.

"I studied fashion," Marlee explained.

More staring.

"They forced me to," Marlee added.

Chrono nodded, and stared around the tree. "Why are people carrying bags out of the building?"

"Full of clothing?" Lucca added.

"Maybe it's a store," Marlee suggested. "Wanna check it out?"

"Well, if we do, we should buy clothes to help us fit in better," Chrono said. "And let's hurry... We don't want the guards getting there first. Anybody got any money?"

Lucca and Marlee dug into their pockets. "I got four gold pieces, a piece of candy, and half an Elixer," Lucca said.

Marlee bit her lip and pulled out some random stuff. "I have... eight gold, some lint, a Magic Tab, and a weird rock I found a while back."

"And I have one gold, an ounce of cat food, and a marble," Chrono declared. "You think it's enough?"

Lucca shook her head. "You can't buy clothes for three people with fifteen gold..."

A man walked out of the building and headed their direction.

"I got an idea..." Chrono said with a grin. "Remember, I'm smooth..."

Lucca smacked her head. "This'll turn out bad... Am I the only one who thinks so?"

"Nope," Marlee said solemnly.

Chrono stuck out his foot, and the man tripped over it.

"Ow... what the-?"

There was a sword at the man's throat in seconds.

"Your GP or your HP," Chrono said, grinning evilly.

"Chrono, that was so lame," Lucca said, sweat-dropping.

The man pulled out a small can, and sprayed a mist of something into Chrono's eyes. "Oh God, it burns!" Chrono yelped, grabbing snow and attempting to wash the stuff out of his eyes with it.

The man took advantage of this and took off down the mountain.

"Real _smooth_, moron," Marlee said, disgruntled. "He's going to get the guards, I assure you. Let's go buy as many clothes as we can, and get the heck outta here."

Chrono whimpered in response, but followed her and Lucca to the building.

A small bell jingled as they opened the door. Indeed, it was some sort of shop. Lucca stopped to examine some shirts with sayings like "I almost caused an avalanche at Mt. Summers and all I got was this lousy t-shirt" and "Pine Lodge- Mt. Summers, 2298 A.D." written on them.

"'Mt. Summers'?" Chrono said, confused. "What's Mt. Summers?"

The lady behind the counter burst out laughing. "Son, if you don't even know the name of the mountain you're on, you need to go back to whatever circus you escaped from."

"Wait... this is Death Peak, not Mt. Summerph-"

Chrono's sentence was cut short by Lucca, who elbowed him in the stomach. Hard.

"He's a bit loopy in the head," she said, smiling falsely at the woman. "He named his cat Mr. Tinkles. Just goes to show, eh? And we -er- just came from... a fair. Yes. A fair."

The woman chuckled. "Mr. Tinkles, huh? That's cute. Are you gonna buy something or not?"

Chrono scowled. He'd lost track of how many people had teased him about his cat. He had to kill Lucca... she started it, after all.

"How much clothing can we buy for fifteen gold?" Marlee asked.

The woman cocked an eyebrow. "Gold? You foreign or something?"

Marlee glanced out the frosty cabin window. She could see two guards interrogating a couple right outside the shop. "Um, yeah. Very foreign. It's... shiny. And stuff. Please?"

She held out the gold and the woman raised an eyebrow. "Wow... this is from... ninth century A.D. if I'm right... Where'd you get it?"

"Uh... inherited it. So... the clothes?"

"Help yourself," the woman said with a shrug, and she pointed to a large rack of clothes.

Marlee all but flew to the rack, and randomly pulled off several shirts and pants. "Hurry... put these on!"

Lucca looked down at the purple shirt and shorts that Marlee had thrust into her arms. "Uh... shorts? Oh well... So where do we change?"

"You can use the bathrooms over there," the woman at the counter called out, pointing.

"Thanks!" Marlee shoved Chrono into the one marked "Men's" and pulled Lucca into the one marked "Women's", and locked the door.

"Why'd she call it a bathroom?" Lucca asked, looking at a rather sophisticated toilet and sink. "There's no bath..."

Marlee looked in the mirror at her reflection, and frowned. She was wearing a navy blue sweatsuit, which didn't match her sea-green eyes in the least bit. Her slippers also did not match it. "Ugh... this is hideous..."

Lucca scowled. "Yeah? Wanna trade? This shirt is WAY too tight. Like, it hurts to breathe. And it's at least three inches above my waistline. Look at all this skin that's showing. And these shorts are giving me a major wedgie. I mean, if they were any shorter, they might as well be underwear. Plus, _who_ or _what _is 'Abercrombie'?"

Marlee shrugged. "Got me. Let's go."

Chrono was waiting for them outside the "bathroom". "Lookin' good, Ashtear," he sneered at Lucca. "It reveals your chest nicely... or lack thereof."

"You've been waiting to get back at me for making fun of Mr. Tinkles, haven't you?" Lucca snapped.

"Why... yes. Yes I have," Chrono said with a grin.

"I hate you," Lucca said.

"Alright... That's en-"

Ding.

Two guards walked through the door, and approached the woman at the counter. They couldn't see Lucca, Marlee, or Chrono, but it was only a matter of time before the guards turned around and saw the trio.

"Can I help you, officers?" the woman offered cheerfully.

"Yes, we are looking for three individuals... one has been identified as having the name 'Chrono'... He's the tall male with the outrageous hairdo. Seen 'em?"

The woman's eyes widened slightly at the picture that the "officer" handed her. "Um... I don't... I don't think so. Maybe. I've had many customers today, see... And I don't remember faces very well."

"We have to fix our hair," Marlee whispered to the other two. "Hurry!"

The three tiptoed back into the bathrooms. Marlee took her hair out of it's ponytail, and flipped it a few times to allow it to settle better. Lucca took her helmet off, and stuffed into a bag that she had put their clothes in. Both spent less than a minute on their hair.

Chrono, however, was less lucky.

His hair was... not working with him, regardless of what he did. He took his headband off, but his hair retained it's wild appearance. He doused it in water, but it only poo fed up into an even more outrageous hairdo. Reluctantly, he walked out of the bathroom, and snatched a hat from a shelf while the officers were conferring with the woman. He slammed it on his head, and his hair still stuck out. _Oh well..._ he thought grumpily. _At least it looks a little different..._

Now looking little like they had when they had come into the store, the three walked out without arousing suspicion.

"Phew..." Marlee muttered as soon as the door closed behind them. "That was close..."

She spoke too soon. The doors opened, and the officers ran into the three.

"Uh-oh..." Chrono muttered.

"Have you three seen these three?" the first officer asked, holding up a picture of the trio.

"Uh... no?" Chrono suggested.

"Don't think so," Marlee said... a bit too quickly.

"Absolutely not," Lucca added helpfully.

The officer raised an eyebrow at Chrono. "What's your name, son?"

"Che...is?" Chrono said hesitantly.

"Alright, Chris... who are your girlfriends over here?" the other officer demanded.

"Carlie," Marlee said.

"Deborah," Lucca said unflinchingly.

Chrono bit his lip to keep from laughing.

The officers nodded. "If you see these dangerous people, will you give us a call?"

"Absolutely," Lucca said.

The officers walked a bit down the road before Chrono let out the laughter that he had been holding in. "_Deborah_? Why'd you pick _Deborah_?"

"I've always loved that name," Lucca said with a sigh.

Chrono contented himself by rolling his eyes. "Well, now that we've blown all our money on clothing, how do we get into Belthasar's lab? It costs ten 'dollars' a person to get in. I read the sign."

Lucca threw up her hands indignantly. "And _why_, may I ask, would you not bring that little fact up when we were trying to get in earlier? Did it not occur to you that it_ would have saved us a hell of a lot of trouble if you'd just _mentioned _it_?"

"Er... I didn't find it terribly relevant to mention at the time?" Chrono squeaked.

"Is there anything _else_ you'd like to mention before I kill you?" Lucca demanded.

"Er... it closes at four?"

Lucca looked at the sun. "Great. It's four-thirty. _Now_ how do we get in?"

"We could... sneak in?" Marlee suggested. "We can use magic, remember? Shouldn't be terribly difficult."

Lucca glowered at Chrono for another few seconds before huffing. "Fine. But if anything goes wrong this time, it's Chrono's fault."

---

"You know," Lucca said conversationally, "the 'let's do it at night when no one's around' bit I can understand... but does the black clothing really contribute to the cause? We look like criminals. Chrono, you actually look like a ninja, what with the face mask and sword..."

"Oh well. Run through the plan, Lucca," Marlee said.

It was late that night. They'd done recon work for the rest of the afternoon, and had discovered that the building was staked out with "security cameras"-- certain devices used to record people's actions, and also used to spot criminals that might be breaking in... just the thing that they were planning. The roof was the best place to sneak in, since there weren't any cameras on the roof. Inside, they would have to get past the robot security. Then, they had to get through a large mess of invisible lasers... which set off an ear-splitting alarm when touched. After that, it was straight to Belthasar himself. _Cake_, Lucca thought.

Lucca loved one thing about the future... the Internet. It had provided her with countless bits of seemingly useless information about Keeper's Dome. How she loved the stupid people who told other stupid, suicidal people how to sneak into a heavily guarded facility. The poor, poor fools.

After she had gone through the plan with Marlee and Chrono, Chrono ruined her moment of happiness by stating something she had overlooked-

"And after we get through the locked door on the roof, and past all the security cameras that are watching us break into a highly guarded and deserted museum, past the big robots with super-human strength, and through the lasers we can't see, how are we supposed to just walk into Belthasar's lab- wearing all black and holding weapons, mind you- and ask him to fix Epoch for us so that we can make sure Mom doesn't follow Mr. Tinkles in the first place? I don't know about you, but I sure as hell don't want to be sprayed in the face with mace again."

"Mace?" Marlee asked.

"The stuff that guy sprayed in my face," Chrono said.

Marlee nodded. "Gotcha."

Lucca shrugged. "My motto: Wing it. If we die, we die for a noble cause."

"Do you know how much I hate certain death?" Chrono demanded.

"Almost as much as you hate me?" Lucca suggested.

"Actually... more," Chrono said. "Nice guess, though."

They were on the rooftop by this point. Lucca used her Fire2 spell to break the lock on the door, and they slipped inside.

"Remember... if you run into trouble, use your magic," Lucca whispered.

"Actually, I was thinking about just standing there, holding a sign that said 'I've been ready to die for a while. Kill me now and end my agony' or something," Chrono said grumpily.

They slipped past the cameras with Chrono lightly short-circuiting them with his Lightning attack.

Then, Lucca saw a very familiar robot.

"Halt, intruders," the robot said.

"Atropos!" Lucca said. "What're you doing here? Where's Robo?"

The purple-pink robot froze. "Who are you?"

"Lucca, Chrono, and Marlee," Lucca said. "Remember us?"

Another robot came out of the shadows. "No. I am afraid we are going to have to kill you now..."

(A/N: I really wanna stop it here... but I won't, because I'm having too much fun making Lucca and Chrono fight with each other... :P)

"R-R-Robo?" Marlee said nervously, staring at the robot coming closer. "Uh... are you... really going to k-k-kill us now?"

The robot chuckled. "No, Marlee. Why would I kill you? I was having fun..."

Marlee let out a sigh of relief. "That wasn't funny, y'know..."

Robo shrugged. "Well, what are you doing here? I thought the time gate was closed."

"Well, Chrono's cat Mr. Tinkles ran into the gate, and his mom followed-" Lucca began, smirking.

Robo began to laugh- well, as much as a robot can laugh.

"Mr. Tinkles? Your cat had a urinary problem, Chrono?" Robo asked.

"IS THERE ANYONE ON THIS PLANET WHO WON'T MAKE FUN OF MY KITTY?" Chrono exploded.

"You," Marlee said matter-of-factly.

As Chrono steamed, Lucca quickly summed up why they were there. "-and so we need to speak with Belthasar, and have him help us fix Epoch so we can go to any point in time we choose. Mainly, the point where Mr. Tinkles-"

Robo stifled a laugh.

"-ran into the gate. Can you help us?"

"Of course," Robo said. "But there's one problem..."

"Lemme guess," Chrono muttered. "Belthasar isn't here."

Robo shook his head. "No. He is here- he lives here, after all- but the invisible lasers prevent people from going past that particular point." He pointed to a narrow hallway.

"Greaaaat," Chrono said sarcastically. "Let's just go back to our time and forget about Mom, shall we?"

Robo shook his head again. "Well, there is one way... Who is the most agile out of you three?"

Lucca snorted. "Not me. I failed P.E."

"P.E.?" Robo asked. "You failed Pericranial Education? How can you fail such a simplistic subject?"

Lucca rolled her eyes. "Never mind. Not me, anyway. Marlee?"

Marlee widened her eyes. "No way! Do I LOOK like a cheerleader to you? I may be thin, but I'm a klutz..."

All eyes were on Chrono.

"What?" He looked at the people (and machines) he had once counted as friends. "Aw, man... Y'all SUCK."

_Five minutes later..._

"So, you're saying that if so much as a hair on my head touches one of those lasers, the lasers'll go off," Chrono said.

"Affirmative," Robo said.

"And it hadn't occurred to you that just overriding the security system would have made life easier?" Chrono demanded.

"Negative. Belthasar is a computer genius. It would take me hours to override his system," Robo stated. "At least, from this side of the lasers. However, if you go over there and hit the switch that turns off the lasers, we'll be able to speak with Belthasar without getting caught."

"I repeat: Y'all SUCK."

Robo had used a certain chemical to make the lasers visible. Something that Chrono didn't quite appreciate. There was NO WAY in Hell that he'd be able to squeeze through the lasers. Chrono thought that maybe "winging it", as Lucca had said, would have given him a higher success rate of getting through the lasers.

"Come on, Chrono," Lucca urged. "Just get over there and hit the switch that turns the lasers off. It's simple."

"Oh, simple my ass!" Chrono snapped. "I'd like to see _you_ do it, _then_ you can tell me it's simple."

Cautiously, he stepped into an opening in the lasers. He weaved through carefully, struggling not to let any part of him touch the lasers. He got toward the very end...

BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP!

His left toe had accidentally nicked a laser.

Chrono gave up on trying to get through the lasers, and just walked over and turned them off.

Suddenly, outside the building-

"INTRUDERS! COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP! IF YOU DO NOT COMPLY, WE WILL BE FORCED TO SEND THE SQUAT TEAM-"

Pause.

"SORRY, THAT WOULD BE _SWAT_ TEAM, IN THE BUILDING TO KILL YOU! AND DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT HOPPING IN THE COMPLETELY UNGUARDED VEHICLES INSIDE THE BUILDING TO MAKE A QUICK GETAWAY, BECAUSE THEN WE WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO COME AFTER YOU!"

Chrono took a deep breath and let out the Mother of all F-bombs.

Lucca, Marlee, Atropos, and Robo goggled at him.

"Whoa, where'd you learn _that_ word?" Lucca asked, amazed.

Chrono threw up his hands. "Are we going to stand here and socialize, or are we going to run like hell?"

Robo threw open the nearest door. "In here. This is Belthasar's lab."

They piled into the lab, just in time to hear the "cop" yell "ALRIGHT! WE'RE COMING IN! WE DIDN'T WANT TO KILL YOU, BUT I GUESS WE HAVE NO CHOICE! IT'S NOT LIKE THE COURTS'LL CARE! WE'LL TELL THEM THAT WE FEARED FOR OUR SAFETY AND WERE FORCED TO KILL YOU! HA! HOW DO YOU LIKE _THEM_ APPLES?"

"What apples is he talking about?" Marlee asked.

Chrono didn't respond. He really didn't like anyone at the moment. Can't blame him, though.

"Atropos? Robo?" a tired voice asked wonderingly. "What are you doing? And who are these people?"

"Aw, shit," Chrono muttered. "He doesn't know us. And whose fault is it this time...? LUCCA'S!"

Ignoring Chrono, Lucca turned to Belthasar. "We... wish to ask if you've ever heard of the Wings of Time."

Belthasar's eyes turned toward the ceiling. "Of course I have... But why?"

"You gave it to us," Lucca said. "In the alternate future where Lavos destroyed the world. You gave it to us to help save the world. And we did. We're just asking for a formula that will allow us to return to a fixed point in time. Any point in time we choose. Is this possible?"

The old man looked amused. "Anything is possible. Where are my beloved Wings?"

"That's the problem," Chrono said snappishly. "The Wings are outside. Up the mountain. And, in case nobody else noticed, we're surrounded on all sides by morons who want to kill us just because they can. Any suggestions on getting out of this dilemma, oh high and mighty Queen of Science? Preferably how to get out of here alive or in a way that won't end up as a kamikaze mission?"

Lucca glanced at some snow mobiles in the corner. "Yup. Belthasar, can we have those formulas?"

Chrono groaned.

_Five minutes later..._

"KAMIKAZEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Chrono yelled as they shot out of the museum on the snow mobiles.

"You say 'kamikaze' one more time-" Lucca began, swerving as real lasers shot toward them.

"BANZAI!" Chrono yelled.

"That's very helpful, Chrono," Marlee said, casting Ice2 behind her, creating a temporary blockade.

With the cops still hot on their trail, they reached Epoch. Chrono flew into it after Lucca disabled the Protect, yelled "BANZAI!" one more time for the hell of it, and they started up the engine.

They discovered very quickly what an avalanche was at that precise moment.

Chrono's battle cry had set it off. Tons of snow poured down the mountainside, crushing anything in it's path- trees, snowmen, igloos...

"AAAAHHHH!" Chrono, Lucca, and Marlee yelled simultaneously.

Lucca slammed on the "WARP" button set for 1000 A.D., and they took off...

Just as the snow crashed down on the exact spot that Epoch had been seconds earlier.

**---To be continued...---**

Holy crap... I wrote a long one this time! O.o Hope you enjoyed...

Next chapter will probably be the last. Sorry. I might make a sequel if you beg, I guess... You'll just have to wait. Next chapter'll have some more of Mr. Tinkles... which the readers love... :)

_Next time on "The End?":_

_"No, Lucca... I love you!"_

_"As King of this domain, I have directed that all precautions be taken for our defense."_

_"Burn in hell, Tinkle King!" "MREOW!"_

_"I...I think I'm pregnant."_

_"Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territories, and our best interests are in grave danger."_

_"Tell me! Where is the virus?" "Do your worst."_

_"With the unbounded determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph"_

_"Chrono, I have one last thing to tell you. Your father lives."_

_"So help us God."_

_"Chrono? Marlee? Frog? What have I done?_ What have I done_?"_

Haha... just kidding. Just a bit of 8-Bit theater I decided to add in.

Reviews are welcome!


	7. The Cat From Hell

_Hello, everyone. Sorry about the several long weeks of no updating. I have a good excuse this time, though. I moved again, and had no access to my files, so I couldn't write anything. But I'm back, and I'm ready to finish "The End?". So please enjoy, and I thank all my readers so very much. :)_

**Chapter 7: The Cat From Hell**

Everyone has problems. I doubt you'll find a person on Earth who didn't. They can be those blatantly obvious ones like getting in trouble for slipping weed behind the school - and getting caught by that bitchy hall monitor. They can be small problems like someone trying to frame you for putting a "Kick Me" sign on your Calculus teacher's back. No matter who you are, you have problems.

Well, Chrono, Lucca, and Marlee had several. And these weren't worries about whether or not John would like to ask you out, mind you. These were serious mental problems that would probably land them in a mental institute in the next few years.

Lucca was a scientific genius. She failed Physical Education class because she couldn't throw a basketball anywhere except into her teacher's head. She was quick to anger, and was now equipped with the power to incinerate anyone that irritated her. She was blamed by Chrono as being the one that got them into the whole "saving the world" hoo-ha. The Telepod _was_ hers, after all. Psycho and genius tend not to work well together.

Marlee was a rebellious princess who _enjoyed_ suicide missions. She ran away from home because she didn't feel like trying to be "lady-like". Manners? Who needs those when you've got the power to turn anyone you want into ice sculptures? Money ain't power, people: Magic is.

We all know what Chrono's issues were. He was twelve when he got Mr. Tinkles. Any normal twelve year old boy would have gone on a spree about how funny the name was, much like all of Chrono's so-called friends. He would giggle and say "Mr. Tinkles? Ha! That's funny! Peepee!" or something equally as immature. But not Chrono. He named the adorable yellow kitty Thor, after the Norse thunder god. And after several days of finding foul-smelling urine on the couch, he changed the name to Mr. Tinkles, possibly due to the fact that the cat just liked to pee. Chrono also had a fetish for swords. Crazy, withdrawn twelve year old plus sword equals mass chaos. Fortunately, he only got three weeks of suspension for the science fair project. How was he supposed to know that a sword didn't fly in a straight line when you threw it? Spears did. They're both pointy at the ends...

Well, when they reached Lucca's house after the near-suicidal mission to the future, we find that Chrono has another problem.

"Hand me that wrench, would you?" Lucca asked vaguely, holding out her hand for it while deeply immersed in calculations.

Marlee handed her the wrench and groaned. "I'm hungry. Got any food?"

A finger pointed toward the kitchen. "Help yourselves."

Upon reaching the kitchen, Chrono realized that Lucca's mom hadn't been grocery shopping in a very long time. The cupboards were barren, the fridge empty... all that was left that may have been an old pecan pie was sprouting blue, furry stuff. Chrono would have been damned if there wasn't a bacterial war going on right on top of the pie.

"What do you think?" Chrono asked, straightening up. "Apple or pecan?"

Marlee examined the pie carefully. "Apple." She was then struck by an idea. "Hey, I'll give you thirty gold if you eat it."

Without hesitation, Chrono grabbed the pie and stuffed a big chunk of it into his mouth. His face screwed up as he attempted to swallow. "Tastes like... like..."

"Crap?" Marlee asked, looking like she was about three seconds from hurling. "Holy Spekkio, I didn't think you'd actually _do_ it..."

"No..." Chrono thought for a minute. "Warm butter."

"I lost my appetite," Marlee declared, walking out of the kitchen.

"Hey! What about the bet?" Chrono yelled after her. "I want compensation for any horrible disease that may have injected into my immune system!"

She ignored him.

Yes, now we know the last thing that ails poor Chrono. Stupidity. He's like Fighter from 8-Bit Theater. A master swordsman, but a complete idiot. At least he didn't hallucinate talking swords. If he did, then we'd have a real problem on our hands. Or cross-dress. God knows how that would turn out.

Please, think of the children.

Anyway, Lucca continued upgrading Epoch. It took the better part of two days, but she finally fixed it.

"Okay," she said with a sigh. "I think I've got it."

"You think you've got it," Chrono repeated.

"That's what I said," Lucca said wearily.

"Are you more or less than eighty-five percent sure you've got it?" Chrono pressed. "'Cause I'd like to know if there's a remote possibility that I'd end up in some bizarre alternate universe where I'm a girl, Marlee's bankrupt, and you're a moron with a drinking problem."

Lucca muttered something indistinguishable.

"What was that?" Chrono demanded. "I'm a _what_, now?"

"Nothing."

Lucca had fixed Epoch to the point where any idiot with an IQ of 100 or higher could operate it. At least, that's what she said. Chrono's response to the claim was:

"And... what's this 'automatic transmission' button do?"

Ignoring him, Lucca fired up the engines, set the time for approximately ten minutes before Mr. Tinkles took his stroll through the gate, and they took off through the hypnotic swirls of time. There, they said good-bye to all their friends as each went back to his or her respective time period.

Finally, the moment arrived. They said good-bye to Robo, and who should arrive than the smug little bastard himself.

"Mreow?"

Chrono glared at his cat. "Oh no, you don't, kitty. I feed you, change your litter box, and bathe you, and you repay me by making my mom run after you into a time portal beyond your insufficient mortal comprehension? How dare you! You won't make mom run after you _this_ time!"

"MREOW!"

"There you are, Mr. Tinkles," Chrono's mom said. "I've been looking for you- oh, hi, Chrono dear. I wish you'd stayed at home more often... your kitty has been showering presents all over the clean laundry because you haven't changed his box in a few weeks..."

"MREEEEEEOW!"

Suddenly, a horde of cats shot out of nowhere and rushed Chrono like a pack of toddlers on a cupcake. They knocked him back just as the gate began to close. Lucca and Marlee both grabbed Chrono's arm and tried to prevent him from falling into the gate, but to no avail.

All three were sucked into the gate with Mr. Tinkles, right as it closed.

"Oh dear," Chrono's mom said. "Now I have to pay full rent... What a pity. He was a good cook..."

---

Chrono woke up. The sky was dark, the trees were numerous, and the air had a slight chill to it.

Mr. Tinkles rubbed up against Chrono affectionately.

"Oh, NOW you want love. Well, you've screwed up your chance, bub. Look what you've got us into now!"

Lucca groaned as she glanced up. "Oh no."

"This place is familiar..." Marlee said thoughtfully. "Where are- uh-oh. There's no more gate. And we don't have Epoch."

"Does't thou needst assistance?" a familiar voice inquired.

Chrono looked up---

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

--Yeah. They were screwed.

"600 A.D.?" Chrono demanded shrilly. "We're forever trapped in 600 A.D.?"

"It would appear so," Frog said. "But why art thou here? Thou wast staying in thy own time?"

"Oh, nope, just got bombarded by a bunch of fuzzballs," Chrono growled, glaring at Mr. Tinkles. "_Skippy_ here made sure of that."

Mr. Tinkles meowed, apparently pleased with itself.

"Let us go to the castle," Frog suggested. "You can stay as knights!"

Chrono sighed and stood up. "Alright. Lead on."

It's funny how the worst of situations can become even worse. One small thing branched out into one very large thing. There was no chance for them to get home. Not for several years, while Lucca attempted to rebuild a time machine.

But then, Chrono mused, surely there must be some good that would come from it?

Marlee bent over to pick up a flower.

Chrono smirked. Oh yeah. He could make do.

-END-

_Well, there you have it. The conclusion. I may consider a sequel if I can get... say... thirty reviews? I'm up to twenty-five or twenty-six now... _

_I hope you all enjoyed my strangely demented fic. Please drop a review, seeing as how you've read this whole thing. Don't just read it and shrug and say "I don't feel like reviewing" because it'll take thirty seconds to comment. Honestly._

_Thank you all so much:)_


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